October 15, 2022
From podcast: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/dane/
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:00:59] Podcast Sponsors
[00:04:37] Podcast and Guest Intro
[00:06:47] Dane Johnson's story
[00:18:54] What Dane learned and what he decided he had to do
[00:30:09] How long did it take for Dane to turn the corner?
[00:36:06] What Dane did to heal
[00:38:44] Podcast Sponsors
[00:43:01] cont. What Dane did to heal
[00:44:43] SIBO, offensive foods, and SHIELD
[00:53:48] What kind of tests do you like to use?
[01:04:44] Root cause of viruses and the ArminLabs Viral Load Panel
[01:10:54] What is the SHIELD program?
[01:17:00] Closing the Podcast
[01:20:30] End of Podcast
Ben: My name is Ben Greenfield. And, on this episode of the Ben Greenfield Life podcast.
Dane: What gave me the faith was I would go home and I'd do a day fast. I wouldn't eat anything. I would meditate. I would just relax, sleep. I wouldn't eat anything. And, my bowel movement would go from 20 to 12. And, I go to the doctor and I say, “Hey, Doc, I didn't eat anything, and I just got 30, 40% symptom relief. What's that mean?” “Oh, that doesn't mean anything. You just didn't eat.” “So, there's no correlation?” “No, there's no correlation.” Well, I knew that not to be true. I said, “Well, that's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard. If I can move the needle with this extreme choice of not eating, then there's got to be other ways to move the needle.”
Ben: Faith, family, fitness, health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking and a whole lot more. Welcome to the show.
Well, today, I want to talk about organ meats. Most of you know I'm a huge advocate of eating what I call nature's multivitamin on a daily basis. Yes, organ meats. You don't have to put raw liver in your smoothie like I do though, or heart, or kidney, or spleen to access the most nutrient rich foods on the planet. Because organ meats, especially those from grass-fed, grass-finished cows, you can actually take in a capsule. Problem is a lot of capsules aren't sourced well or they're simply too difficult to get your hands on when it comes to grass-fed, grass-finished sources.
Now, one of my friends you might know, his name is Paul Saladino, also known as Carnivore MD on Instagram. He's been on my podcast many times. He founded a company called Heart & Soil. These are grass-fed, grass-finished, were generally farmed beef organs in supplement form. You can take them on the go, sprinkle them on food. I'll break open the capsule sometimes. I chew the capsules. It's like nature's multivitamin but on steroids, without actual steroids, don't worry.
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Well, I can't talk about barbeque without going a little southern style. You're faced with hungry crowd, arm yourself with a grill, a Traeger grill. Traegers can tackle everything from hamburgers and hot dogs, to slow-smoked brisket, and even dessert. Thanks to their 6-in-1 versatility; grill, smoke, bake, roast, braise and barbeque, everything to wood fire perfection. All you got to do is throw on the food and let the grill, Traeger grill do some heavy lifting. You have the freedom to grill anytime, anywhere right from your smarty phone. Drag your grill's feature, WiFIRE control, allowing you to keep an eye on your dinner from the couch or even from across town at the salon. No more babysitting your baby backs. Plus, with over 1,500 recipes in the Traeger app. Getting that one on your smarty phone in your back pock or your leather chaps, you're bound to find some dinner inspiration.
Check out Traeger.com, T-R-A-E-G-E-R.com to learn more about these amazing grills, two of which are on my porch, and they eat pretty good. Later.
Well, folks, I met today's podcast guests at a health event down in Arizona. I believe it was. It was several months ago. He and I have been trying to connect for many, many months since then. He actually came up to me at a cocktail party, at said event, and he introduced himself to me and he started talking about his story, which involved a ravaged gut and bloody stool and type of things that are just absolutely fabulous and pleasant to talk about at a cocktail party. And, I realized as he was going on that he actually knew a lot about gut issues, gut inflammation, Crohn's, colitis, a lot of stuff that people struggle with and may not even know that they're struggling with. They might think they just have irritable bowel or constipation, or they just maybe ate the wrong piece of cheese last night. But, Dane Johnson is the name of my guest, and this dude knows what's up when it comes to unique approaches to fix your gut. He's the owner and the founder of CrohnsColitisLifestyle. I'll link to that and I'll link to everything else that we talk about if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Dane. That's BenGreenfieldLife.com/D-A-N-E.
I could tell you Dane's whole story, but I think he's probably going to do a better job doing that. But, I can tell you that not only do we want to talk about that, but we'll also dig into the type of test that Dane runs, this program that he has called S.H.I.E.L.D for really developing the right supplements, nutritional approaches, and mindset approaches for your gut. A little bit about the emotional and spiritual component that fits in here, that's pretty surprising.
So, Dane, I'm, A, super stoked to have you on the show and B, opening the kimono for people, experience a little bit of Deja vu because we tried to do this a few months ago and just got completely nuked by a bunch of tech and Internet issues. So, here we go for round two. You ready for this?
Dane: I am ready. Thank you so much, Ben, for having me. I'm grateful to be here and I'm excited for everyone listening. My hope is that this is a life-changing conversation that me and Ben have and it brings you nothing but amazing fortune. So, let's dive in.
Ben: Cool, man.
Well, you were a male model or something like that, weren't you?
Dane: I was. I was doing some Zoolander for quite some years. And, for me, it was kind of like a get-out-of-jail-free card. You get out of college. I had an office job, 9:00 to 5:00, didn't like it. I happen to be the right height, right measurements, and just went for it. I started acting and modeling and doing commercials and all that. And, when I was 22, 23, and I wasn't one of these kids who was found in a mall or scouted, as they say, I kind of moved to LA by myself. No friends, no family, few bucks in my pocket, and just went for it. And, it was my first time ever trying to make what I saw in my head and manifest it into reality. And, I was so fortunate to get some success. I signed with major agencies and started modeling and acting and doing a lot of big stuff that I was just super grateful for. But, the ironic part is I had been diagnosed with, at first, ulcerative colitis. And now, I'm starting to go on sets and have 10, 15 bowel movements a day, blood, cramping, urgency, diarrhea.
Ben: Before you went to LA to start modeling, did you already know in the background this is an issue?
Dane: Yup, 19.
Ben: And then, it just got worse?
Dane: Yeah. I mean, Ben, when I was dealing with this, if you relate with this, I had no idea what was happening. I was in college at 19 years old. I started seeing blood in the stool and thought, “Well, I don't know what that is, but I'm just going to hope it doesn't happen again.” And, it just got a little bit worse and a little bit worse. And then, by the time I was 23, I'm working a full-time job and I'm working 12-hour days in Washington D.C., I was working federal government type stuff, and all of a sudden, I just got really bad where I went to the doctor, they diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis and they said I'll have this for the rest of my life and I need to stay on these drugs for the rest of my life. There's nothing I can do about it. Food doesn't matter. I mean, it was devastating. I broke down in front of my boss and I broke down in front of everybody. I mean, I was put on Prednisone and Asacol.
Ben: Yeah, I was going to ask you what they actually put you on.
Dane: Yeah, they put me on that, 40 milligrams of Prednisone tapering 5 milligrams a week down to 0, and then Asacol. And then after that, I went on Remicade. I mean, I was raised in Virginia in the middle of the woods, and my family knew nothing of natural medicine. We were good people. We just thought, be a good person, treat people right, and everything will be okay. There was no disease in my family, so —
Ben: Take your tums if you get indigestion and you're good to go.
Dane: Exactly. Take a Tylenol, go to sleep it off. Here's some soup. I mean, just simple stuff.
Ben: It's kind of funny not to take over your story, but I grew up in a very similar household where we played outside, we hiked, we were physically active, we were out in the sunshine. And, it wasn't my parents' fault, they just didn't know a whole lot. There wasn't much of an emphasis on the link between the way that you feel and the food that you eat. And, I remember I would have multiple days per week for most of my teenage and adolescent years where I would be curled up with debilitating stomach aches and pains and cramps in the evening.
My parents assumed that I just had a weak stomach, that I was sick. They often took me to the doctor who would put me on round after round of antibiotics and nobody really paid that much attention to the fact that my favorite thing to do was drink 1 to 2 gallons of 2% milk per day because I was a growing boy and I needed it, baby. And, I had no clue about lactose or A1 proteins or the inflammatory nature of that at all. So, I kind of had a similar situation and always wonder like, gosh, because I still have a little bit of a princess gut. I just wonder if that definitely did a number on me early on in life.
Dane: Amen to that, man. And, that's what I think, Ben, me and you are here to do is that's our gift to the world. It's through our pain that we created purpose and we're here to help others find real answers. And, I think something that's really distinct here is it's really hard to help others and have that special gift if you haven't gone through that pain yourself.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: And, I think that was lacking more in our parents who we love and who are doctors who we love is that there was just that disconnection. They really hadn't been through it. And, the conventional medicine didn't say much about it and parents didn't know what to do about it and we were all kind of dumbfounded. And so, yeah, it was a similar situation. I had 2% milk like a gallon a day, same thing growing boy really into my athletics, wanted to gain all this weight and be big for football and basketball, and was just so into that that it took over. And, I think it might have been connected with my own princess gut.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: When you're that young and you're going through that, you don't know what to do about it and it's almost like, “Better luck next life.”
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: It's like, “Oh, well, this is it and this is how it's going to be. Nothing matters.”
Ben: Yeah. That are just cut-out bits of your body, which I know a lot of people deal with as well. I mean, it's my understanding that ulcerative colitis can kind of come and go and you have periods of remission in between, but often due to stress or due to travel or due to even excess physical activity or heat or things like that. You get those flare-ups and it sounds to me like you did get on medication but you were experiencing getting worse and worse, especially the bleeding part, which I think is super disturbing if you haven't eaten beets the day before and you look in the toilet and it's red.
Dane: Yeah, all red. Exactly. And, I know a lot of people right now might be relating with this. I didn't want to do natural medicine. I just wanted my life back. I just wanted my life back. I was shooting for big, big campaigns. I thought I was going to be the next Brad Pitt, hope and believe. I thought I was going to be a cool cat. My ego was getting way too big, and all of a sudden, I was blood every day, the whole toilet bowl was blood, cramping pain. It felt like I was pooping glass.
And then, the Prednisone kind of worked, then stopped working. The Asacol didn't work. Then Methotrexate, it didn't work. Then Remicade didn't work. And then, it was 6-MP and then I got basically drug-induced hepatitis from the 6-MP waking up in shivers and cold sweats and I had to come off immediately. And then, I went on ENTYVIO and it was just like my family was throwing everything at this, everything. And, it was, oh, man, I could not get out. I was in this prison. And, it was not weeks, it was not months, it was years. And, I'm sitting here and I'm masking it. I'm hiding it from my agencies. And, I'm a hard worker. Really, just everything I've had, I've had to work for. And, I just paid my own way my entire life. And, here I am just stuck and there's nothing I can do about it.
And, I go to UCLA, I go to Cedar Sinai, I go to Mayo Clinic, and they're all telling me the same things. I have, at first, severe ulcerative colitis. Then, UCLA diagnosed me with Crohn's disease. And then, Mayo Clinic said, “No, you have ulcerative colitis.” And then, UCLA said, “No, you definitely have Crohn's disease.” They couldn't make up their mind, so I just started calling it Crohn's colitis. And, I'm sitting here and they're all saying, “Look, you're just going to keep switching these biologics until we find what works. If it doesn't work, we need to cut out a part or all of your colon for a total colectomy.” So, you're going to get your colon removed, and then you're going to wear a stoma. And then, if everything goes well, you're going to have reversal surgery to make a J-pouch and hopefully, that will cure it.
Ben: And, hey, a quick question about that because obviously people cringe at the idea of that surgery, but it doesn't just fix things to my understanding because of the extreme importance of the colon and the colonic flora and the absorption, things like short chain fatty acids and all that stuff that occurs in the colon dictates that you can't just take it out and not experience, sometimes even worse issues in the future. Am I correct in that assumption?
Dane: You are correct, but it's not something discussed with the doctor. So, the doctor is looking at a situation saying, “There's no way out, we have to take out the colon. This could be life-threatening. You could increase dysplasia,” which is basically turning into cancer. And, it's yes, potentially life-threatening, so we need to take the colon out.
Now, the long-term effects of, yeah, you can have shortcut syndrome, you have water absorption issues, B12 issues of absorbing B12, yeah, short chain fatty acids and other issues where a lot of people who have a total colectomy are going to the bathroom on average if everything goes well five to seven times a day. So, it's not uncommon to still use the bathroom a ton because you don't have the colon and wake up in the middle of the night, but it can save your life. And, I do want to say that in some cases it's needed and it's not something I look down upon, I work with many people who had their colon removed or part of their terminal ileum, and that's totally fine and you could still get massive results with it. It's just something that I didn't want to do and I felt there was something more I could do.
And Ben, what gave me the faith was I would go home and I do a day fast. I wouldn't eat anything. I would meditate. I would just relax, sleep. I wouldn't eat anything. And, my bowel movements would go from 20 to 12.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: And, I go to the doctor and I said, “Hey Doc, I didn't need anything. And, I just got 30, 40% symptom relief. What's that mean?” “Oh, that doesn't mean anything. You just didn't eat.” “So, there's no correlation?” “No, there's no correlation.”
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: Well, I knew that not to be true. I said, “Well, that's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard. If I can move the needle with this extreme choice of not eating, then there's got to be other ways to move the needle.”
Ben: Right. Because obviously, you can't just not eat your entire life. And, I think that's in addition to nutritional malabsorption. One of the reason people with inflammation, colitis, et cetera, have difficulty, is one of the symptoms if you have difficulty putting on weight because many folks just realize, “Oh, it feels better if I just don't eat.” So, they don't eat and they begin to just waste away, almost like cancer, cachexia, or something like that.
Dane: Yeah. And, you start reading about intermittent fasting and all the benefits and the benefits of fasting, you go, “Hey, this could actually be really good for me.” And, we just have this what we call food fear. So, we just have these tons of trauma around food. And, I stopped eating a lot, but all of a sudden, I went from 185 pounds down to my lowest was 122 pounds. And, my diet was getting more strict and my symptoms were getting more severe. And then, the drugs were working even less, Prednisone was working even less, Methotrexate didn't work, the ENTYVIO didn't work, Remicade didn't work, [00:17:02] _____ didn't work, Asacol didn't work, and all of a sudden, I'm going from bad to severe to life-threatening.
So, in 2014, I ironically went through a lot of stress. I think a lot of people can relate who are listening to this. I went through a great deal of stress and all of a sudden, I went into a life-threatening condition. I started losing my vision. I started having massive night sweats, fevers, and shivers. If you're getting night sweats and fevers, I want to touch on that as we go because that was a huge correlation now that helped me actually get rid of this issue later on. So, night sweats, fevers, shivers. I was losing my vision. I could hardly walk. I stopped at a convenience store because I was doing a show for this company, and so I drove myself. I told the art director, I said, “I got to go, I'm having a severe situation.” I drove myself to the hospital and I was in that hospital for six weeks. I didn't leave for six weeks. I lost 60 pounds, about 20 bloody bowel movement today. My whole family flew in, I think it was December 14th, 2014, I nearly died at the hospital.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: The doctors didn't know what to do, I didn't have good health insurance, so they kept transferring me to different hospitals until I was at a hospital where they was more of a Chinese hospital, inland, and they didn't know what to do at all. And, it was actually my mom who was managing my health because the doctors were overwhelmed. They didn't know what to do, so she was calling every doctor I had seen at Mayo, UCLA, and Florida all over, trying to get an idea of what we could do. Because at that point, I was on 200 milligrams of infused Prednisone, I was on four different types of antibiotics. They put me back on biologics. I was on 3 grams of Delaudid, which is what you'd give to a dying cancer patient. And, I was on Ambien, and then I think that was it at the time. So, I was starting to have hallucinations. My mom was saying, I was talking to my twin sister, which I don't have one. I don't really remember a lot of that time. Then, I went on TPN feeding tube because I couldn't eat. So, it was just getting worse and worse and worse.
And then, there was this doctor who said that he believed that it wasn't actually a bacterial load that was attacking me, and that's why the Prednisone and the antibiotics weren't working. He believed it was a virus. And, he gave my mom that hint. So, we called up the insurance and we said, “Hey, we need to put him on an antiviral chemotherapy or he's going to die.” And so, we had to argue with the insurance company because the sample of it is $5,000, a sample. So, we argued with them and argued with them and argued with them. We need to be at that place because it's the only place that our insurance would allow us to go, so we didn't have a $200,000 bill by the time we left. And eventually, they gave us some and I actually snapped out of it, came to consciousness who after about two days on the chemotherapy, I snapped out, I became conscious, I was able to talk and kind of start moving around. And, it was at that point I checked myself out of the hospital.
So, from the time I got blood was 19, I nearly died on my 27th birthday in the hospital. So, this was not some quick thing. I want everyone to know that I didn't just go up and just start a diet and take a few supplements and read a book and everything changed, it was years of failure. It was thousands and thousands of dollars. It was a lot of pain. It was everyone in my family, everyone in my circle trying to help. And, the number one thing that changed during that time is I started realizing that I had to be the CEO of my health.
So, when I first got this, I'm going, “Hey, I'm going, I'm seeing the best doctors in the country. I'm at Mayo Clinic. I'm at UCLA. They know way better than me.” So, I was just there to just listen and do. And, I realized that wasn't serving me. And, I wasn't just going to say, “Hey, doctor, shut up, I'm just going to run this thing.” But, I started saying, “I'm going to have a voice and I'm going to start choosing what I do and why.” And, when I made that distinction, I was able to have more control and dictate how each day went. Because your doctor is going to be with you for 10 minutes, we all know this. You got 10 minutes with the person, maybe 15. You're with yourself all day long. So, I was able to micromanage all day long what was happening.
So, once the chemo started kicking in, I made the decision to check myself out of the hospital and I was housebound for a year at that point.
Ben: A year, jeez. So, you're basically just locked away trying to fix your gut, your colon?
Dane: Yes. Yeah. And, one thing I want to talk to everyone listening here how important the mind is, a year prior to that, I started realizing, “Hey, if I fast, this matters. Hey, if I eat certain things, it goes down a little bit.” I started seeing little distinctions. And, one thing that saved me is I started journaling every day. So, a lot of people that I see, they're either healthy or they're sick. There's no distinction in the middle. So, I learned to start celebrating if I sold 10% symptom relief. Meaning, if I went from 20 bowel movements to 17, I was celebrating. I was hands in the air. I started learning how to get happy. I started learning how to celebrate the micro wins and I started to look at how to micromanage every day what was happening.
So, some key aspects I did when I first started actually getting some real results with natural medicine because I tried for once I saw fasting work, I said let me try the SCD diet, let me try low FODMAP, let me try AIP, let me do the fruitarian diet, 400 bananas a day. I did only bone broth. I did puree carrots. I was reading Jordan Rubin's book. I actually got to meet Jordan and asked him all these things. And, I started reading Jini Patel who's also big in the community. And, I just looked everywhere and I tried all these things. And, these generic famous diets were not working. My case was too severe. The underlying issues, the root causes were so strong. It didn't matter what I ate. I was going to bleed. I was going to have pain and I was going to have cramping. I think a lot of people can relate with that.
There's a lot of people who say, “Hey, diet restriction works.” And, that's simply because the diet restriction is allowing the body to have a healing response. So, we'll talk a little bit about that as we go. But, the diets weren't working, it wasn't really giving me what I needed. And, as I restricted my diet and my caloric intake, I started noticing just more weight loss. So now, I'm anemic, 130 pounds 6'2, and I can hardly walk. And, I've been trying to eat pureed carrots for five days straight.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: So, that's actually a worse situation than I was five days prior because without that whey, without those electrolytes, without the nutrients in my bloodstream, I'm as good as dead.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: So, I was in this conundrum where I couldn't keep restricting my diet. And, that was the conundrum. I needed to find a way to stabilize my body while going after root cause and almost like a chess match. It was like a moving place. Don't get hit, but hit the opponent. Don't get hit, hit the opponent. Don't get hit. So, it was a dance that I had to learn.
So, when I was housebound, a little bit before that story is I decided that I wanted to go to school for natural medicine. So, I said whatever I'm going to do, I made a distinction, I think this is the biggest distinction everyone can listen right now is I decided that I was going to be the CEO of my health. Not the expert, not the master, but I was going to take control in responsibility for my health. Meaning, I'm going to hire this naturopath doctor, I'm going to work with this conventional doctor, I'm going to work with this mindset coach, I'm going to work with the spiritual coach. I don't care. I'm going to put them on my board. I'm going to figure out what they're saying in layman's terms. I'm going to integrate. I'm going to simplify. I'm going to execute. And then, I'm going to see what happens.
Ben: Yeah. I mean, some people, they cringe because you're going to turn into Dr. Google and figure out via deep dark Internet forums and threads what's wrong with you and give yourself hypochondria and all the things that people associate, especially you hear a lot of doctors that scoff if you walk into their office with some article you found on the Internet. But yet, at the same time, there are so many resources out there. I mean, gosh, totally not related to the gut but I had this weird mark on my forehead last week and I downloaded a dermatologist app, took a picture of it, and within a couple seconds knew what it was. And, it's not only freeing to be able to be in control like that or at least arm yourself with a little bit of extra knowledge but it can save you a ton of time and hassle. And again, obviously, you got to go in with your Spidey sense up when it comes to just taking random pieces of advice online. But yeah, taking control over conditions versus just sitting and waiting for somebody else to figure it out I think can be incredible, especially for the stress that accompanies those type of chronic health conditions.
Dane: You and I both know, Ben, that that resilience that grit, that trial and error is how you got where you are. It's part of it. And, same with me, we have to stand up and be consistent and be willing and you want that Spidey sense, of course, because there is a lot of crap out there. And, at one point, I was taking hookworms and there seemed to be a lot of good clinical research on it. But then, after a week, I said, “What am I doing?” I'm drinking worms and —
Ben: Yeah, I did that once. The hookworms and tapeworms, yeah. Just as an experiment I heard, so many bio hackers are doing it to modulate their immune system, especially during travel. I did it for three months. It's expensive. It's 400, 500 bucks or more a month. I didn't notice jack squat taking aside from just fun conversation at cocktail parties, but that was about it.
Dane: Yeah. I mean, I was 24 years old with very limited experience. And so, I think what we're both saying here is that having some kind of foundation to start training, I personally believe that self-empowerment around health is the number one value on the planet. There's nothing more valuable on that. So, if you can start learning and experimenting and growing, you're not only helping yourself but your significant other, your kids, your parents, your loved ones. You just have more power to do something about these terrible things that can happen to us. And, that's when I made that distinction. I remember I was sitting there one day and I said, “If I can figure out how to get happy eating this way, if I can figure out how to get happy doing these protocols, if I can figure out how to take back my life, I have everything to gain.” So, whether it's in that career I had when I was a kid doing the modeling and acting or any other career I want or being a father, which I knew I wanted to be a father and I wanted to be married and what I would do for my significant other. And, I already knew I didn't want to just put my parents in an old folk home and just leave it up to the doctors. I already knew I wanted to do something about these things that could happen to me in life. So, I said, “Wait a minute. Everything that Crohn's and colitis is asking me to do to be able to heal is everything I actually want from my best life.” And, that right there, that was the change.
I went from, “Oh, my god, I have to be gluten-free. I have to be dairy free. I have to be on this crappy diet. I'm miserable. I can't be like my friends. How long do I have to keep this up?” to wanting and desiring to figure out how to get happy like this.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: So, it was a mental change. Healing starts in the mind. You have to change your mind to say I want this. If you're doing it because you need it, that fear-based gasoline only go so far.
Ben: So, are you saying that the mindset shifts for you was visualizing, imagining, and future projecting the idea of what you would feel like and the life that you would live once healthy?
Dane: Yes, but it was also what is my best life. When I started imagining what it was, who was I, and what was I able to do, it was very similar to what it took to heal Crohn's and colitis. Meaning if I want to stand up on a surfboard, I'm 70 years old, and feel good, is eating a specific way going to be part of that? Of course. If I wanted to not have back pain, if I didn't want to get Alzheimer's, which both my grandparents died of Alzheimer's. My mom mostly trying to tell me, “Hey, you got to do this diet, you got to try this, got to try that.” And, me having to be drug to do it, like just miserable. Absolutely. And, I know a lot of parents are relating this, their kids are relating this right now, it's like you're just miserable trying these diets. Everything, something can change in you. It's not just about Crohn's and colitis, like something changed in you Ben where you said I want to eat this way, I want to make this investment because I'm excited about what it can create my life. I'm excited about how I can feel and how I can shift. So, you took a fear-based ideal to an investment, a sacrifice into an investment.
So, once I started shifting my mind that I wanted to invest in myself, I wanted to be the best version of myself, I took power away from the doctor, I took power away from the diagnosis, I took power away from everyone. I didn't need as much. I didn't feel so guilty that my parents were literally emptying their bank accounts trying to heal me.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: My first year trying to heal my family spent $30,000. We are not a rich family. We didn't have a lot of money. That was a lot of money for us. I got worse. The reason I got worse is because I wasn't willing. I wasn't actually in it. I was being dragged to the hospitals and dragged to these doctors and choking down and doing whatever they were saying and I was miserable the whole time. I didn't know what I was supposed to take. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I wasn't accountable. I wasn't researching. I wasn't reading. I was putting out my hand and someone was saying, “Take this and eat that” and I was just doing it and put my headphones back on binging on Netflix.
Ben: Yeah, yeah. Well, I know that eventually, I guess to go long story short, you wound up healing yourself pretty significantly. And obviously, when I saw you at the event in Arizona, I never would have guessed that you were, what did you say, 130 pounds?
Dane: 120, 120 pounds 6'2.
Ben: Yeah. I mean, you're a big strong muscular guy now. And, I mean you look super healthy.
So, how long did it take for you to actually, once you started to take your health into your own hands, turn the corner and start to feel like you didn't have to be chained to a toilet all day?
Dane: It took me about three or four years before I got any real results. And, I went into Natural Medicine School because I started noticing when I change certain things that I started getting some results. And, that created belief.
Ben: Oh, and by the way, what's Natural Medicine School?
Dane: I got a board certification in holistic nutrition from a place called EHI in Los Angeles. So, it was founded by a few naturopath doctors and it was a two-year degree where you basically learn about mitochondria, energy, and gut health, and meditation, the nervous system. You learn about nutrients and how to figure out how much nutrients in food and the value of fiber and those kind of basic strategies.
Ben: Cool.
Dane: So, it gave me a place where while I was sick and while I was housebound, I was doing what I could there. So, my naturopaths would live close. I would also do a lot of it online. And, it took me about two years. So, I was in it for about six or seven months prior to me getting sick. And then, when I left the hospital was actually my naturopath professor that was the first person I called to say, “What do I do?” And, he put me on vitamin A, vitamin C, zinc, slippery elm, and marshmallow, who's actually the first one to introduce me to something I call the BCPH shake, which is bentonite clay and psyllium husk, which actually helped to formulate my bowels because I had such a spastic colon and diarrhea. That binder with a bulking agent really did help me immensely calm down bowel movements and even calm down blood.
Ben: That BCPH shake, is that the name of a recipe or is that an actual brand?
Dane: That's a recipe. That's just the nickname that he and I kind of created for.
Ben: You called it BCPA?
Dane: BCPH. So, bentonite clay, BC, and then psyllium husk, PH, psyllium husk. You can do it with psyllium seed or you could use Acacia fiber or you could use sprouted flax and chia seed. There's many different types of fibers you could use as a bulking agent or as a binder. You can use many different ones, but those are the two that he introduced me to that actually did start to help. So, we had some benefits where you show me that, which was a big aha moment, but there were also a lot of things that he was a fantastic brilliant naturopath doctor, but he didn't specialize in Crohn's colitis. And, I started noticing that within naturopath doctors around the country. Not many people specialize, but they could show me 10, 20, 30 cases of people that they had reverse symptoms and gotten clinical remission. And, that's what I was looking to do. So, I even furthermore said I have to figure this out.
But, the benefit is I was exhibit A. So, when I was doing Natural Medicine School, I was taking what I was learning and I was applying it to my daily life. So, it was the best training I ever got because I wasn't talking about theory, I was literally chronically sick, 120 pounds, couldn't leave my room, and saying, “Okay, I'm going to try this, I'm going to try that, I'm going to add this, I'm going to do that.” And, it was him who actually said, you finally got me to sit down and meditate and really take it seriously.
And so, long story short, when I started to heal, it took me about a year to get mass results. In one year, I got rid of about 90 to 95% of my symptoms. I went down to two to three bowel movements a day. No blood, no cramping, no urgency. I went to 175 pounds. I got off. I took myself off ENTYVIO. I got myself off Prednisone. I got myself off the chemotherapy pills, which only last for a month or two. I got myself off painkillers. I got myself off Ambien. I was drug-free in about seven. It was about seven months. And, on month seven, I was supposed to go in for an infusion and they took my blood and they were going to give me the ENTYVIO. I sat in the infusion chair and I felt so good, man, I felt so good. And, I just knew in my heart I said, “This is not the ENTYVIO.” I've tried biologics. I didn't want to stay on them because I knew I had to be on for the rest of my life, and I was reading about the biologics increasing chances of cancer. So, it just didn't feel right. So, I made a personal decision that I was going to just go Wild West on it. And, I just stood up from the ENTYVIO table and I said, “No, thanks.” Walked out and went cold Turkey.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: And, it was bold. And, I'm not recommending anyone listening here to do that. And, looking back, I was a young guy who didn't know what I know now, and there's a better way to do it, but that's what I chose. And, I just felt deeply that it was the natural medicine that was working, it wasn't that. I had a lot of learning pivots from there. That was about seven or eight years ago where I had to learn a lot of different things, but I made that decision. And, when I went to the hospital to see my doctor at UCLA, she said, “Dane, I was going to be really mad at you until I saw your blood work. Your blood work is perfect. What have you been doing?” And, it was like, “Oh, my god, let me tell you what I do. I've been taking this curcumin and Boswellia and using all these different types of fibers and meditation of it, make my own yogurts and all that, and sauerkraut, jar a day, all this stuff.” And, she didn't know what I was talking about. She said, “Okay, whatever, just calm it down. Let's do the colonoscopy. Let's see what's going on.” So, I let her do the colonoscopy, my colonoscopy showed 80%, 80% healed.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: Those scars were gone. The ulcers were gone. The inflammation was almost basically gone. And, seven months later, she couldn't believe it.
Ben: That should be helpful and hopeful for people who have issues like this to hear also because the body was able to, or at least the colon was able to regenerate. So, I know there are some organs like the heart where if there's cellular damage and cellular death, you typically just get fibrosis and a weakened heart and heart damage; whereas, the liver can totally regenerate. It sounds to me like the colon just basically can bounce back.
Dane: Yeah. The gut is the fastest-healing tissue in the body. I mean when it has the ability, it can heal very quickly. I mean, some of the clients' members we have, I know it sounds unbelievable, but we see people get massive symptom relief, sometimes 80, 90% symptom relief in 14 days. It's insane. I know it sounds crazy, but it is possible. It's just the body has to find that right pieces, that right puzzle, and it can boom. It can move quickly.
I mean, think about when you get food poisoning, you get the flu or you get the stomach bug. Think about how quickly your body can recover from that.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: If you get it out of your system, it can be a day or two. So, it's not like tearing your shoulder, it's not like your hip goes bad. The gut is very quick to act.
And so, some of the things that I'd say sum it up with my healing journey because I don't want this to be about me, I want this to be about the viewers. And, I want to give them all the big things that you can use today to get massive results. So, things that I did in the beginning that were huge, that were not just about a magic pill or about a diet.
Number one, I only ate what I cooked. So, I didn't know what to eat. So, I said, if I don't know what to eat, let me only eat what I cook because I'll have a better intuition. Okay? So, theme for you when you're starting to heal that intuition be your north star. Your divine subconscious is really powerful. You can tap into it. That's one of the benefits of meditation. It helps you tap into your subconscious and your awareness. So, I only ate what I cooked and I meditated on that and allowed me to start feeling how do I feel with this food or that food?
Ben: Obviously you can log your meals and write symptoms over, but did you actually sit and meditate after each meal and tune into the body?
Dane: In the beginning, yes, I would meditate for about 20 minutes before meal and after, especially if I was not confident I could handle the food. So, I was trying to figure out should I eat fruit? Should I eat grain? Should I eat meat? Because every diet was being a little different, but I looked at the common themes. If you look at SCD diet or if you look at AIP diet or a lot of these, they're going to say high protein, high meat, high some vegetables and stay away from polysaccharides, stay away from grains. And so, I saw a common theme to stay away from grain. Same with fruitarian diet, stay away from grain. So, seeing a common theme that certain plant-based foods were not working. So, the first thing I tried was a lot of meats. And then, I started out being, okay, red meat was hurting me because of the iron in the red meat. So, I started getting away from that. What's the difference between cooking chicken on a barbeque with a high flame versus in a crock pot? So, I started learning about and I created this thing called food philosophy where I started learning about how food works despite a blind diet. That saved me.
There's one thing I want you to understand today, it's being able to be aware of food. Don't just do a diet because someone said it and wrote a book. Look at food and be aware of how it works and then listen to your body and journal on that because your body will tell you. Some people with diagnosis of Crohn's and ulcerative colitis will do very good vegan and others will do very good meat-based. I have one client right now, he's been with me for a year and he can only eat vegan. He cannot have any meat. He has any meat, he gets 18 bloody bowel movements a day. He can only have plants.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: But, it's very common for a lot of us to say “I can only meat” because meat is dead food. It's got no carbs. It's got no gluten. It's got no dairy. It's got no sugars. It's got no fiber. Fiber is only found in plant-based foods, so it can slow down the bowel movements, especially if you have a spastic colon. I call it food philosophy. So, one of the goals I have for viewers listening is I want to free you of a diet and give you the power to assess the risk of any food that you eat at any time. Just look at it and assess it.
Ben: I've been drinking this stuff at lunch. Usually, I have bone broth with lunch, but I switched to this stuff. Super interesting. It's called Haelan. Haelan is spelled H-A-E-L-A-N. It might be Haelan. I don't know, Haelan, whatever, it tastes good. I think it's Haelan. Anyways, it's called Haelan 951. This is basically soy. And, I know all of you like soy. You're not supposed to consume that.
Now, understandably, there's lots of conflicting information out there. The short answer is yes, you should be consuming soy, but only if it's the right kind, which is pretty rare because genetic engineering and poor soil, and improper harvesting means most modern-day soy has some serious issues. And, try and save modern-day soy 10 times fast. I dare you.
I did a podcast with Dr. William Li from the Angiogenesis Foundation. We usually talk all about soy benefits, but this Haelan stuff, get this. It's a concentrated nitrogen-fermented beverage made from organic soybeans grown in the mountains of Mongolia. They have proven the species to be anti-angiogenic, meaning it doesn't feed cancer, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic, enormously rich in vitamins and minerals, and a complete protein source. All your essential amino acids. People use this stuff now for energy, for better sleep, for detox, for longevity, for meal replacement, really great anti-cancer benefits as well. Now, it's fermented and it's soy and so it doesn't taste that good. I'll just come around and tell you. But, what they do is they ship out this mint powder that you mix with it that makes it actually taste really good. I just drink it on ice with this mint powder with lunch and it's really, really amazing stuff and I feel really good on it. But, I have a peace of mind that I'm drinking anti-cancer every day with lunch.
So, you get a special discounted package over there and free shipping on a bunch of bottles of this stuff. Here's how. Remember this for spelling because it's a little difficult. Haelan 951, H-A-E-L-A-N-9-5-1.com/Ben. I'm going to say that again. Ready? H-A-E-L-A-N-9-5-1.com/Ben.
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So, you probably know that your body is mostly water, but your body is also 50% amino acids, which are the building blocks of life, and proteins in our essential for health and fitness. So, no matter what you do or how you like to move or whatever you do to stay fit, amino acids are hyper-essential. And, that's why this stuff called Kion Aminos is my Swiss army knife for supplementation. I drink them or just dump the powder straight into my mouth because I'm weird like that every day for energy, for muscle, for recovery. If I'm hungry, I have a scoop and they crush appetite. Amazing for supporting sleep. Even if you haven't had a big dinner, they help us support muscle gain and weight loss. I mean, over 20 years of clinical research behind these aminos. They got the highest quality ingredients, no fillers, no junk, rigorous quality testing. They taste amazing with all-natural flavors. So, if you want to naturally boost energy, build lean muscle, enhance athletic recovery, the list goes on and on. That's why I call them the Swiss army knife. You got to get Kion Aminos.
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By the way, related to that whole logging thing, I recently interviewed Dr. William Davis. I don't know if you know him. He's the author of a relatively new book called “Super Gut,” very focused on L. reuteri and some other specific strains of bacteria for particularly things like SIBO but also you know sleep performance. He recommended to me when I interviewed him this device called a Food Marble. It's made by a company called AIRE, A-I-R-E in the past to test for SIBO. You got to order this kit and do all your breath tests. And, this is an at-home SIBO test. You breathe into it for five seconds before and after each meal and then like an hour after your meals and you can log and it actually shows you all your methane and hydrogen production from every single meal.
And, I for a while, I was getting gas and bloating and I talked with Dr. Davis and I bought one and I've been using it and it's crazy. You can with laser-like precision to see exactly what's causing a spike in methane or spike in hydrogen. You know what's nuts? If I go back to what you were talking about, pretty strict meat without a lot of, especially fibrous vegetables and even fermented vegetables and things like that, my gas scores are pretty much nonexistent. And, as soon as I introduce any amounts of not just beans but lettuce, kale, carrots, you name it, I see this bump up in hydrogen and methane scores. And, I don't know if I just eat only meat my whole life, but it's pretty crazy that once you start to track, sometimes you think you know what's up, and then once you start to track, you really start to see these patterns emerge and it's crazy.
Dane: I love that. I haven't heard of that app but it sounds fantastic. SIBO was such a hard one to tackle.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: But, there's a lot of evidence that suggest anyone with IBS has SIBO. I mean SIBO is not necessarily a diagnosis, it's just bacterial overgrowth. It's a microbiome imbalance and it's really interesting on that because over the years, I only ate more paleo AIP for years. So, something that changed on me. I want to give everyone a higher thought. Eventually, you want to get them what I call the offensive food. See, if you're still having a problem eating a whole food which has fibers, sugars, and you're getting a severe reaction, that's a sign that the microbiome still needs to get healthier. There's something still there that diet restriction can't solve. I see this a lot of times for people who go paleo and feel better. It doesn't necessarily clean out the gallbladder in the liver and it doesn't treat underlying infections and maybe infections that have biofilms that you're not even finding in a quantitative PCR stool test.
And so, a lot of times that upper GI is just hidden and it's mass. And, the more you treat it and then start conditioning that upper GI, the easier it is. So nowadays, I actually eat probably about 70% plant and for about five years, I only ate meat and vegetables.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: Because I found the same thing. And so, it was all AIP. It was just fermented foods, properly cooked meats, had the tail-type stuff and I still love that. I still do it. I think it's fantastic. But, it's something done on me, I said, “If I can't eat these things, is that because it's bad for me or my body's not ready for it?” So, it was a good question. And, I said, “Okay, can I answer that question?” I started messing around with it and finding certain things to help me.
So, in that regard, I got on the offensive food of how can I do physical therapy in my gut so it can handle more? So, let's say like a piece of pizza, it's poison. We shouldn't have it. But, why is it a 20-year-old person who doesn't have GI issues doesn't have a severe reaction to the pizza while we do? So, my goal, and why I called the program SHIELD is the ability to be able to handle poison without a severe reaction. That's a sign of a healthy gut.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: That's where I started saying, “Well, let me get on the offensive food and let me start adding these things and finding a way to do it.” Deeper infection like I'll say biocidin was really good as an anti-biofilm. If you don't know what you're doing, be very careful because that can expose a lot of infections that can cause a cytokine storm that you're not ready for. We see it all the time. So, you got to be really careful with how you detox and work it. But, I love TUDCA, NAC, glycine. Those are my three favorite for liver and gallbladder cleanse.
Ben: What was that one you said TUDCA?
Dane: TUDCA is amazing. Checkout TUDCA, T-U-D-C-A. And, this is all a chess match guy. So, as me and Ben talked about supplements and all that, it needs to be put and customized to where you are. If you do this in the wrong place, it's like a paradigm, it can cause a negative reaction. So, here's what I want everyone to know. If you take a certain supplement and you're not in the right place, you can have a negative Herxheimer reaction, a negative reaction, but the same person, same root cause who's a little bit more prepared can have an amazing positive reaction. So, there's a paradigm with supplements. Just because something doesn't work or food doesn't work doesn't mean it's bad for you. It means your body is not ready.
Ben: Okay.
Dane: So, TUDCA is an amino acid, helps your gallbladder create more bile. Bile is also used by the liver to transport toxins. A lot of people who are constipated, a lot of people with bacterial overgrowth, dysbiosis, autoimmune disease, they're backed up in the liver and gallbladder until they get fixed. You're not going to digest fibers, you're not going to just proteins or fats. Well, you're getting a lot of gas and bloating and foul-smelling bowel movements, then that's probably indigestion of fats.
One of my favorite things is taking a little bit of liposomal PC, phosphatidyl complex, or phosphatidylcholine and that's so heavy in fats that a lot of times you get a lot of ton of gas and bloating. So, I'll use that as a measurement of success on how I'm doing with fats because I want that to feed my mucosal membrane to help it heal my epithelial cell wall to help build my lipid fat bilayer so I have less mass activation and internal cellular issues.
So, like a lot of my clients who have mass cell or histamine issues, one of my favorite things is to use things like butyrate and PC to rebuild those lipid fats around the cells to stop that histamine reaction. And so, it's all like a chess match. It's like, where are you? What are the root causes? How can you find them? And then, how can you slowly use things to get it at the right time?
So, working on your liver and gallbladder is really great for digestion. A lot of people with Crohn's and colitis, their digestion is so poor. Their pancreas is not operating correctly. They have undigested proteins, fats, or even fibers that are going into your colon and it's causing the spastic colon. That's why your restrictive diets works in the first place because you're trying to make things more bioavailable and reduce inflammatory response.
Well, one of the hardest things to digest is beans or kale, because it's so fibrous. It's insoluble fiber that doesn't absorb water, and it flies through your gut like a log on top of a stream.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: You need soluble fiber. That's why bananas do better.
Ben: Okay, okay, got it.
Dane: You see what I'm saying? So, what we can do is the food that you're reacting to when you learn food philosophy actually teaches you about root cause. If I have someone who's having a terrible reaction to a banana, I'm already knowing that sugars are a problem and I've got my sights on yeast or fungal growth because that sugar is feeding, that is causing a reaction because fungus and yeast feeds on the sugar and it usually causes that negative reaction. So, I'm already thinking sugar, fungus is their connection. Is it mold or is it yeast? Is it candida? Is it in the gut? Is it systemic?
If someone's having a reaction with calyx, insoluble fibers, I'm thinking poor digestion of fiber, SIBO, liver gallbladder backed up, and a spastic colon. Because of that, a lot of people with ulcerative colitis, like for years, I would get tons of lettuce and tomatoes and corn and brown rice undigested in my stool. And so, why is that not being broken down?
Ben: Is there anybody though that doesn't get corn in their stool? I mean, that kind of a thing.
Dane: That's pretty much everyone at this point, especially all the GMO corn. So many issues in the corn. And so, you start learning about that and what's with the crazy thing is, Ben, over these last seven, eight, nine years, I can eat 10 times as much food and I have no symptoms from it. So, I just got back from Mykonos two days ago. And, when you're out in Greece and you're on boats and stuff, you're not going to eat how you eat at home. It's a little harder. So, I'm still gluten-free and doing all that stuff, but a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
There was this guy who is famous chef out there who had this homemade bread made with oat and millet and there was a little bit of flour in there, so it had some gluten. I had three or four pieces, had a normal bowel movement, no problem. But, I was able to assess the risk of that and choose that in that moment and be okay.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: And, all the hard work of fixing my gut has allowed me to handle the stress of poor quality food if and when I ever choose to have it. And, that's true freedom. So, that's what everyone wants is they want to make an investment in a way of living so they can get back freedom. Now, I have even more freedom because I do not desire poisonous food. I don't want pizza, I don't want gluten, I don't want donuts. I don't want it. It does nothing for my dreams or goals.
Ben: You're like me. When people say, “Hey, dude, do you ever cheat? Do you ever just say F it?” And, I'm like, “Well, if you want to call having a little bit of extra rib eye steak and a larger piece of a nice organic dark chocolate bar and an extra glass of biodynamic wine, yeah, I cheat. But, for me to pull into the fast food restaurant or go out for donuts, to me that's like offering me a chunk of dog crap to cheat on.” It's like, “If I'm going to cheat, I want the good stuff, baby.” It's a cheat. Cheat is just more calories.
Dane: But, how long did it take you honestly? That mental fortitude, you get so much dopamine. You get so much excitement about what you're building. Why are you going to put a chain on yourself with that poison? You're just there immensely.
Ben: Yeah. Well, what it took for me was I used to pull into McDonald's every day on my way to tennis practice in college and get a Big Mac supersized and a Dr. Pepper and then go play tennis for three or four hours. I did that every day, in addition to the gallon of milk and all those other things that I used to do.
And, what it took for me, honestly, was when I was in college taking nutrition courses, seeing pictures of guts and learning about how foods are broken down and learning about inflammation and realizing, “Oh, hey, you'd think I'd have clued into this long before.” There's actually a link between what I eat and how long I'm going to live and how I feel. And, once you know, it's kind of like when you look at the picture on the side of the cigarette package, which obviously doesn't stop a lot of people but probably halts a few, once you know, it's actually difficult to eat the poison and if you know physiologically what it's doing to your body to keep doing it.
Dane: And, you know the addiction even gets more exciting because when you started diving into telomeres or NAD or peptides or stem cells or cellular health or cleaning or the liver, all of a sudden, you're just going, “My god, I feel great.” I'm actually bigger faster stronger at 30-something than 20-something. This is the thing that changed me. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. What I'm losing, and what is all emotional fear and trauma to connect with a society that poisons itself as a celebration. What do we do for birthdays, Halloween, Christmas and prom night? We drink and eat crap food.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: It's like we celebrate poisoning ourselves. And, I think that we need to change that.
Ben: Yeah. No, trust me, bro, I'm super into feasting. But, the feast we have here are absolutely amazing when it comes to real good organic food close to earth.
I wanted to ask you because there was one thing that intrigued me. Actually, it was when you and I were talking, when I first met you, you said a lot of doctors, they don't run the right test, they don't look for the right things. And, I noticed on your website, because I went and checked out your website, I'll link to it at BenGreenfieldLife.com/Dane, because you have all your different products that you recommend and use, and then a whole program where people can actually be coached by you and your team to learn the techniques that you know. But then, you got a whole bunch of different lab tests and some stuff that you wouldn't think necessarily directly correlates to the gut like Epstein-Barr and Cytomegalovirus. So, what's your approach to the actual testing component?
Dane: Yeah, great question. So, there's so many root cause issues that are not being checked by conventional medicine, and insurance is not going to cover the right type of technology to even check. So, for instance, the first test I like to use I do think helps. Every test has its hole. So, one thing to know about testing is no test is perfect, but they can really help you understand root cause. So, I'll give you an example.
The first test I like to use as a quantitative PCR test, I use the GI MAP test. This is basically giving me quantitative values of measurements of infections that is very sensitive. So, we can see what the doctor can't see. So, for instance, if a doctor wants to find H pylori bacteria in your body, it needs to be either the mid-E to the 4th or higher. That's a scientific notation. So, which is a really high amount for them to test positive and has to be active. And, you do a genetic stool test, it can be a very small amount and not even be active or reacting in the body and you can still see it.
So, I had one guy, this guy was a very successful man in Los Angeles. He had made lots of money, he went to UCLA and all this stuff, and he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis having 20 bloody bowel movements a day. And, he didn't know why and he's having [00:55:33] _____. He's about to quit his job. And, this is a multiple six-figure job. He's very successful young man. He didn't want to quit, but he's lost all this weight, 20 bloody bowel movements a day, cramping, pain, urgency, weight loss, acne, headaches, depression, and he's just lost. And so, I work with him one-on-one, and the first thing I do is I do a GI MAP test and I look. And, he has got massive amounts of candida just sitting in his stool.
Ben: Oh, wow.
Dane: I'm talking humongous amounts of candida. And, it's right there. And, this is where I get a little upset with the conventional. It's right in front of me. It took me five days. Well, here you go. You're probably reacting to it. I kid you not, in three weeks, we had him symptom-free, and they were about to take out his colon.
Ben: Wow. And, did you just put him on an antifungal type of protocol using oregano and all those type of things?
Dane: So, that's the chess match. I'll give you an example of the chess match. The first thing I want to do is increase nutrient absorption and reduce inflammatory response. That's all you want from food. Okay. Two things you want food. You want to increase nutrient absorption and reduce inflammatory response. So, I got to get his colon to calm down. I got to get amino acids in his body. I got get that healthy fats in his body. I got to get him creating cholesterol and testosterone. I got to make sure he's got the building blocks even recover. If you don't have the building blocks, you're going to recover. So, I make sure that I'm building the nutrition plan where I can increase absorption, reduce inflammatory response. And, I'm starting to use anti-inflammatory and playing defense. So, the first thing you ever want to do is do things that can only help and don't hurt. Don't go on the offense because it's too risky at first. You're one step away from going into an ER room, some of you guys out there listening right now, okay? And, if you're not that sick, it's still the best way you can get massive dividends just playing defense. So, things like a really healthy curcumin, a little hack, don't get a bioavailable curcumin. You want to curcumin that actually doesn't absorb because it coats the colon.
Ben: Yeah. So, if you get the curcumin that has the black pepper and stuff added to it, that's actually a bad idea if you want the curcumin for the gut because it gets absorbed systemically. I've heard that before.
Dane: Bingo. Exactly. And, black pepper, you don't want to aggravate the gut. No black pepper. You see that in your curcumin, don't get it. I use C3 curcumin. You buy Designs for Health. I love that product. So, just starting to use some of that. Using [00:57:38] _____, things that coat the stomach. Do what a 5-ASA mesalamine is trying to do, but do it better. So, you think like slippery elm, marshmallow root, or you could use some glutamine or aloe vera. So, you just want to play defense. It's not going to hurt you, it's only going to calm down. Put your hands over your face and start moving around the ring. So, play defense first.
So, with defense, we got him down to eight to nine bowel movements and cut his blood down by 60% and his energy went up by 50% in a matter of 10 days because he couldn't absorb anything. He was eating crap food. He didn't know what to do, so he couldn't absorb and everything he was eating was causing inflammatory response even though it was seemingly healthy. His spirulina and his salads and he was having grains and he was eating gluten-free burgers with a gluten-free bun. And, it was just not doing anything for him, it was just so generic. And so, we built that plan. He started getting some fantastic symptom relief and then we started working on his detox pathways before we detox. So, the number one thing you're going to do when you're looking at the chess match of trying to kill off infections, you've got to make sure your detox pathways are open. So, starting to maybe use some glutathione or NAC or glycine like we talked about using binders. So, it could be a BCPH shake, it could be GI detox, activated charcoal. These things. You want to clean out that gut. First, play some defense, let the body release some toxins, then slowly start on an anti-pathogen.
So, when I start on anti-pathogen, I'm looking for something with very minimal ingredients, something very old as old as dirt type of thing like oregano is a good example. Oreganos was used by your great-grandfather to treat the flu or toenail fungus in the 1800s. It's very old and you can get oregano with olive oil. And, that's broad spectrum, it's antiparasitic, antibacterial, anti-yeast and some antiviral. But, if your body's not ready, you're going to have a terrible reaction. So, you got to prime the body, make sure the inflammation is going down, calm down the epithelial cell wall, make sure that the liver and gallbladder is being supported, and slowly microdose on it.
So, as I microdose on the antipathogens and titrate it up, all of a sudden, he's going, “Damn, I'm getting normal bowel movements. I'm able to eat this. I'm eat this.” And, I think it was in three or four months he's sitting courtside at the Lakers game, no problems, no symptoms. We got him off biologics. Now, he decided I'm not going to get you guys. If you want to get off biologics, you got to make that choice. I can coach you through it, but that's your choice. So, he decided he want to come off biologics, we get him off of Prednisone, we got him off mesalamine. His calprotectin just came back at a 60. I think it's 60 or 50 from 3,000.
Long story short, the lab work, a lot of times, it's just not being checked. So, if you're listening to this right now, ask yourself. Did your doctor ever check for candida? Did he check for yeast? Did he check for viruses? Did he check for a parasite? No, because the insurance-covered lab work doesn't even see, it doesn't even look.
Ben: Is there a test that does a lot of it all at once because I've, in the past, made recommendations for the Genova Diagnostics three-day stool panel, which does give you parasites, yeast, fungus, inflammatory markers? Does that knock a lot of that stuff out of the park? Or, do you think there's extras that you got to add in?
Dane: Probably in the beginning that's a good bang for your buck because you're looking for obvious infections. At the beginning, especially if you just got diagnosed, is there an obvious infection or is this a deeper problem? So, that's not going to check for viral load, it's not going to check for mold. So, the thing about a genetic stool test is they can't check for mold because it takes too long to culture. So, they don't check for mold, they only check for yeast and candida. So, if for example I had a 5-year-old girl was working with extreme ulcerative colitis, now she's symptom-free and the problem was she had molded her gut. She had aspergillus with Gliotoxin and her body and it wasn't showing up in her stool test even though her secretory IGA was too extremely high and her calprotectin because they don't culture mold in a genetic stool test. So, sometimes you do need to look different.
So, I'm going to say this. Phase 1, GI MAP test. Once you're good with that, phase 2, I'm going to look at an organic acid test, urine analysis that can give me ideas of mold neurotransmitters, vitamin deficiencies, oxalate issues, which also can tell me about more systemic issues. So, I'll look at an organic acid test and then the phase 2 also, I'm probably going to look at maybe a cytokine panel. So, at this point, I want to see if your interleukin 12 or 23 or IL-beta1 or your TNF alpha is raised. That'll give me an idea if the biologics are working or if you need the biologics and if there's deeper systemic reactions. Each cytokines tends to be linked with different types of autoimmune diseases like IL-18 is linked with inflammation and damage in the mucosal lining. So, I'm saying, “Okay, the IL-18 is really high.”
Now, the research is still very new within cytokines, so we're still learning a lot about them, but it's still very good to check. So, if I'm going to get you off biologics from always going to check your calprotectin, your cytokine religiously as I'm coming off, that's the mistake I didn't make when I came off the biologics.
Ben: Okay.
Dane: So, phase 2, I want to know cytokines, I want to know organic acids. And so, now I have stool, urine and then the blood work, I want you to do under insurance with your doctor at first because it doesn't cost us any money, and we always want to save money when we can. Don't splurge. Spend money on things that make sense, but do not spend money, anything, a supplement or a lab that does not make sense to you. It's the biggest problem. Everyone's going to a naturopath and doing what they're telling them to do without it making sense. They're taking supplements or doing labs, spending $3,000 $4,000 on labs and they don't even know why. If you're paying them, explain it in layman's terms. “Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this?”
So, in the SHIELD program, what we do is we actually make you become accountable to your plan and what you're doing and why. So, we're training you because if you're going to be good in 10 years, you need to know what you're doing. You don't have to become a doctor, you just have to understand the stuff in layman's terms. So, just break it down, give yourself a cheat sheet and understand it. Two to three sentences on every supplement and what it does. Same thing with the lab test. If you're going to spend money, understand it.
Ben: Okay.
Dane: So, phase 2, organic acid, the cytokine, GI MAP is the first one. Just look for those really clear obvious ones. And then, I might look after that like a mold test and mycotoxin test to see what that. I might be looking at a heavy metal test. Is there something deeper going on with heavy metals that could be causing some of these different cytokine panels? A lot of people with Crohn's and colitis may have another autoimmune disease like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. So, we want to see if there's other issues that are going on because they're all causing that hyperactive immune system.
And then, food allergy test, I will do eventually. So, if I have leaky gut gone, Zonulin is not a problem, your microbiome is good, your inflammation is under control and you're not on any kind of biologic or immunosuppressant, then I'm going to check your food allergies. And, I'm going to check your IgA IgG. So, that's just going to tell me about different types of a delayed reaction that can cause a sensitivity over 2 to 28 days. Or, an IgE if you're getting severe reactions to food, which is usually pretty apparent. So, you don't usually have to do that.
The big one that I've been adding in lately, which is also a phase 3 or phase 2 depending on what I'm seeing as the root cause is around viruses. So, this is a big hitter.
Ben: Yeah, I think this is what you were telling me, by the way, that I was super intrigued about.
Dane: This has saved more lives, and this is what helped save my life. It's miraculous. I have seen people go symptom-free in, unbelievable results, four days from looking at this theory.
So, I do a test and it's only in Germany right now. COVID restrictions will not allow us in the United States to do this test. But, you can still learn about it and just keep connected with us. And, I'm hoping this month in August that the restrictions are going to open and we can do this test here in the United States. Otherwise, it's very expensive. You can still piece it together, but you're looking at $2,500 pieces together in United States. If you do it in Germany, it's $550. So, there's a man named Dr. Armin, arminlabs.com, A-R-M-I-N-labs.com. He's a medical doctor, 35-year veteran, worked with HIV, AIDS, all the big bad wolves. The one thing he's done is he has found root causes to chronic diseases that are seemingly incurable. So, he's been able to find connections with Lyme disease or other viruses or bacteria. So, like bacterial load in your bloodstream, like campylobacter in yersinia, which are usually found in the GI tract, but a lot of people don't realize they're actually in the blood too and they're causing those issues. So, he has great testing.
So, the basic thing that he's doing different than what our doctors are doing is he's testing for the IgA antibodies. That's T cell activation. So, think COVID, T cell activation is giving us a more parent and true result versus IgG and IgM. This is just an antibody that your T cells create to fight an infection. So, when you are getting testing positive or something, they're saying, “Look, your body is creating antibodies to this. Therefore, you have it.” So, when the doctors check your Epstein-Barr virus or cytomegalovirus in the United States, they're checking IgG, which is just delayed or a past infection. So, they're saying, “Look, you've had it in the past, but you don't have it now.” So, they're not going to act on it. So, if you have high levels of IgG to EBV CMV, the doctors are not going to do anything and they're not know what to do with it because it's just past infection.
Now, IgM is a really poor way of checking for current infection. So, only probably 20% of the time is IgM actually accurate and it only tests for very strong, very fresh infection. So, if the infection is old or it's been there for a while, IgM is not going to be there. So, the number one thing you want to look for is the IgA antibodies. And, that's what Dr. Armin does. So, he actually built a specific Crohn's colitis test for us where he tests for, I think it's five different viruses and two bacteria that he calls enterobacteria or enteroviruses, which means our viruses and bacteria that cause inflammation in the colon.
Ben: And, is that one, by the way, the ArminLabs Viral Panel?
Dane: I mean I just have him do. He made one up for me. So, I'll tell you what's in it. He does the VCV, the echovirus, CMV, EBV, HSV, so those are all viruses, and then I think coxsackie, so six viruses. And then, he adds in the yersinia and campylobacter in the bloodstream. So, it's a blood analysis. So, he checks all of those.
I mean, probably about 80 to 90% of my client load. I mean, we've worked with over a thousand people with Crohn's and colitis. We only do Crohn's and colitis. I see about 40 Crohn's, colitis patients or clients a week I see usually. So, it's all we do all day long. We put out a testimony once a week. Our success rate of getting at least 60% symptom relief in three months is 90% or over. So, when we work with someone, we are 100% dog and a bone getting results. That's just how we are. Everyone on our team has Crohn's and colitis. So, we're always checking this ourselves. So, you're working with someone who has the disease themselves and specializes in it.
So, when we check with Dr. Armin, I think it's about 90 out of 100 clients we've checked have all come back positive with active viruses who've been diagnosed with Crohn's and colitis. Ben, it's absurd.
Ben: And, are there actual symptoms associated with these viruses?
Dane: Yeah. All the terrible. If you're getting night sweats, fevers, cold sores, if you have a passive mono, if you're noticing that no matter what you eat when you get stressed, you get blood cramping and urgency, I'm already thinking what's going on with the virus. Is there a viral load in there? If this just came out of nowhere and now you have Crohn's and most it's colitis, I see a lot more, but you just got colitis, you've got Crohn's, and you're not sure why and it doesn't make sense, no matter what you do, you're sick, I'm thinking there's an underlying virus that's active and your body is having a severe cytokine reaction to it, specifically in the colon. And, when it sheds, your body's freaking out. Doesn't matter what you do.
If that's making sense to you, we can help you. And, you need to check for those viruses and you need to have a game plan to go after them. And, sometimes you can herx hard. So, is it as easy as, “Hey, check the virus and go take some antivirals?” No, you got to be careful. You can have a severe herx. A herxheimer reaction is where your body becomes over toxic with endotoxins or mycotoxins and then your cytokines have even more extreme reaction, almost like you're flaring even worse as you're trying to fight it off. So, you have to be cautious and know what you're doing. You have to set your body up to be able to fight these things and be able to release these things.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: So, if your liver, your gallbladder, your lymphatic system, poop, pee, sweat, that's why Ben is always doing infrared sauna and working on his detox pathways. It's just so important. So, for instance, I had Dr. Almin come on to our community and do an interview, explain this that we had about four people just go ahead and test with them who were from our European communities. We have people all around the world. And, because we couldn't do it in the United States, we just had a few people in Europe. And, every single one of them tested positive for the virus and get this. One of our clients was in remission and he had a large amount of a viral load. And, Dr. Armin said, “This guy is a ticking time bomb.” It's only a matter of time before his symptoms come back because this virus, his body is in control of this virus, but if he hit stress, if he goes on an antibiotic, if you go on antibiotic and get really bad, that's probably because the antibiotics destroy your microbiome, which controls the virus.
Ben: Wow.
Dane: And, if you take these antibiotics or tons of glyphosate food or all of these things, your body's getting weaker and weaker and it's allowing these underlying problems that were probably there in the first place to become systemic and you're all of a sudden, you start getting cytokine reactions to it. So, it's the root in microbiome that's making us susceptible. Might even not be new, it might be there but now you're susceptible to it.
Ben: It's very complex. And obviously, we've started to dive down the rabbit hole a little bit in terms of a lot of things that, as you discovered during your journey, doctors, practitioners don't test for and things that they don't do. And, you've alluded to the fact about the complexity of this.
If somebody is listening in and they have issues, walk me through what it takes to actually work with somebody like you or go through like your SHIELD program or something like that. What's the first step if somebody just wants to figure this out?
Dane: So, the first step you're going to want to do is build what we call a foundational blueprint. So, something that you can do in your life that's not overwhelming that you can be consistent with and that simplifies your goals.
So, number one, what are you eating in a way that makes you happy and healthy and simplify that? So, it could be like [01:11:27] _____ to shake or a whole food meal, maybe focusing on AIP or paleo or vegan. So, you want to start with a proven system. So, we've done this with hundreds of thousands of people. So, we're going to use a proven system on you, and then we're going to customize it. So, the golden goose is that everything needs to be customized to you and everybody. We got to get away from the generic. So, based on your symptoms or your lab work, or how you're feeling, or your emotional stress, or your need for sugars, or need for fast food, or if you have a 12-year-old who's sick, we always try to find that median. We got to get happy to get healthy.
So, start with a proven system that you can be consistent with that is nourishing you, that you're not freaking out with, and just do it long enough to start getting experience with how does food change things? How does certain supplements like C3 curcumin or omegas or TUDCA or a probiotic or a butyrate, how do these things help? And, if you're on a budget, don't buy things that don't make sense. So, cut the fat. Make sure you're being very specifics. We're very conscious of where the money is. We only want to spend what makes sense.
So, the second thing is build your personalized answer, and you're going to have a coach and a partner in that with someone who has Crohn's and colitis themselves and is trained and sees 40 people a week, specialists. Okay. So, this is what we do. So, you want to start with a proven system, A, and make it consistent. Make it easy. So, right now, if you're like, “Dane, I'm overwhelmed, I don't know what to do.” Simplify it. Look at your plan and just say, “Okay, let's make it simple.” Key hack for that, do 80% of your plan, 90% of your plan first thing in the morning and last thing in the night, and try to make the middle of your days open. That makes it easy for kids, work, travel. So, try to do your plan first thing in the morning, first thing in the night, and make it consistent, okay?
Number two is when you're cooking and things like that, don't cook one meal, cook eight meals at once. Put on some Bob Marley, let the sun in. You don't need to be a perfect chef, you have to just look to cook in a way that reduces inflammation and increases nutrient absorption. Okay. And, we have to make sense of that with what foods do you like and what is your body telling us.
Once we see their lab work or we also see what's going on with your symptoms, a lot of times, I'd say about 70 to 80% of the time, we get pretty great results with that first foundation, which you're going to all of a sudden create belief. So, right now if you're listening, you might just be in faith. “Is this a scam? I'm skeptical. Is this actually going to work? What am I going to do? How long do I have to keep this up?” We've got to turn that faith in the belief. So, belief comes through experience. If you experience symptom relief, you're going to have belief. You're going to be excited. You're going to want to learn more. You're going to be turning those pages quicker. And so, we got to start creating belief in you. When I can get that belief and that trust, I know we're going to win because I know that you are now going to lead your plan. I don't have to drag you.
So, you're going to be like, “Man, this is working.” And then, all of a sudden you say, “Dane, I want to eat this. I want to go here. I want to have a beer.” Okay, make it a goal. I'm not saying a beer or pizza or any that's good for you, but if you're saying that's your goal, then make it a goal and build a shield that allows you to handle that poison or stress without a terrible nasty reaction. Now, if you want to get to where Ben is and get to that point where you realize and have this epiphany that none of it is helping you with anything you want, that's where I am too. And, I would suggest to continue to move there. But, that might take a year or two or three years to emotionally decide that that's what you want.
So, the second thing is start acting on what you desire, not what you need. Okay? Happiness, desire, curiosity. That is a way better fuel than sacrifice and fear and need. So, after you get that consistency, now we can personalize. If you don't have consistency, you cannot personalize.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: So, we've got to say, “Okay, get that repetition in and then let's say, okay, how you doing with this? Can we up the dose of this?” Now, if you're getting great results, I might just take the same plan we're doing and just titrate up. I might hit the gas on it and see how far the dividends go. I might be able to get great defense with the basic plan. Let's roll. That's how a lot of our clients do. So, when we see a certain percentage of our clients get massive results in two or three weeks as if this is crazy I can't believe this, this is ridiculous, people are never going to believe this, those are usually that basic plan working so well.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: Okay. And so, then we personalize. And then, at that point, based on your budget, based on what you say, we're going to be recommending, okay, let's do some lab work. If we do lab work with you, we make $0. I'm huge on integrity as I know Ben is. I will not make a dollar on you on labs. Whatever my cost is to order labs for you is for you. If you can get it done with insurance, please do it through insurance. If someone else will get it cheaper, go for it. Whatever my cost is is your cost. I can do labs in Dubai. Australia, Canada all over. And so, I built this system because we're a medically licensed company.
And then, supplements as well. We get an average of 20 to 30% off retail price and supplements, probably 35% off Amazon.com. So, that's right out of my pocket. Again, I spend a lot of money trying to heal myself. I know where you're at. Integrity is so important to me. I'm not willing to trade it. So, I want to create an environment where you have every resource you need to get massive results. You have the best products in the world with the cheapest price. You have the best lab work that can be interpreted for you, and you have everything you need. And, you also have the most successful community in the world because these people that if you go and you go to YouTube and you type in Dane SHIELD, you're going to see hundreds of testimonies. You can actually meet those people and chat with them in the program. So, these are all just members.
Ben: Yeah.
Dane: So, when you're in the program, it's one payment, it's a lifetime membership. I don't do hidden fees. There's no subscriptions. One payment. I do free live trainings once a week as well. So, it's all about like today we talked about the art of happiness with IBD. So, how to get happy and how to release it. I think that spiritualism and mental fortitude and changing perspective. I mean, Ben, you know there's no way you got where you are if you didn't have to go through some emotional experiences of like, “I'm going to work out like this. I'm going to eat like this. I'm going to commit my life to this.”
Ben: Yeah, absolutely. It sounds super comprehensive. And, I know again we're kind of running short on time. There's probably a lot more details of the SHIELD program. But, I know you've got a pretty comprehensive website and so I'll link to that if folks go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Dane.
The reason I wanted to get you on Dane was to point out the fact that, A, there can be serious issues that you have with your gut, and you don't just have to go get it cut out and you don't just have to rely on western medicine to fix all your issues, because a lot of times it doesn't. B, I wanted to give people the hope, looking at a guy like you and they can look you up on Instagram or go to your website, see how you look before, see how you looked after. It's inspirational. If you're listening right now, you can fix this stuff. And C, I wanted to highlight how many different things you got to think about; the multimodal approach, the lab testing, understanding that it can be a variety of issues, even like the stealth co-infections and viruses that you talked about. And, I hope we really help people wrap their heads around the fact that it's complex, but it's all fixable, it's all fixable.
And so, if you're struggling right now, I mean, I met Dane, he's stand-up guy, he knows what he's doing, and he's not paying to be on this podcast or anything like that. I met him and was just really impressed and I wanted to open him up to my audience. So, if you have gut issues, obviously I've got other podcasts I've done about Crohn's, colitis, IBD, IBS, et cetera. I'll linked to all of them in the shownotes at BenGreenfieldLife.com/Dane. But, go check out Dane's CrohnsColitisLifestyle website, his SHIELD program. I think it'll help a lot of people out. And, of course, if you have comments or questions or feedback for Dane and I, you can also go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Dane. And, I'll put everything over there. everything over there.
Dane, any last things you wanted to throw in before we part ways here?
Dane: Yeah. This has been an honor. Thank you so much, Ben. I love your energy and I'm just always a fan of you. And, I'll always be here to help anyway I can help you or your community.
Number one, when I checked, I had massive candida in my body. I had yeast. I had blastocysts parasite. I had CMV virus. I had a bit of mold. I had tons of H pylori and the doctors never mentioned any of this to me at all the hospitals. They never found it. I found all of this stuff. So, it was multiple things that got me so sick that caused all these issues. And so, yeah, there are plenty of things there and it needs to be customized to you. Self-empowerment is the answer, and that's what's going to keep us healthy for 20 or 30 years. And, we need that community to work together.
And lastly, the number one, build your foundation, then personalize it, and then you got to get happy to get healthy because if you can find consistency over five or 10 years of loving this and being happy with this type of exploration, you're going to get better and better. If you look at how Ben was three or four years ago, I guarantee he's better now. It's because of his desire, it's because of his happiness around this. He's not just getting in, getting what he needs and he's out. He's growing with it. So, the third thing, get happy to get healthy.
Yeah. Again, Ben, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to be here. I'm wishing love and gratitude and health to everyone on this. And, I'm just so appreciative and really want to send love to you, Ben, in your community, and thank you so much.
Ben: Thanks, Dane. Thanks for what you're doing, brother. And again, folks, go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Dane. I'll put it all over there, all the goodies that you need. Until next time. I'm Ben. I'm with Dane, signing out from BenGreenfieldLife.com. Have an amazing week.
More than ever these days, people like you and me need a fresh entertaining, well-informed, and often outside-the-box approach to discovering the health, and happiness, and hope that we all crave. So, I hope I've been able to do that for you on this episode today. And, if you liked it or if you love what I'm up to, then please leave me a review on your preferred podcast listening channel wherever that might be and just find the Ben Greenfield Life episode. Say something nice. Thanks so much. It means a lot.
Recently, at a nutrition conference, I met Dane Johnson, the owner and founder of CrohnsColitisLifestyle.
His transformative healing story, dedication, and the uniqueness of his holistic approach were so fascinating that I knew I had to get him on the show.
Dane’s passion for holistic nutrition began after his own life-threatening battle with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. At 19 years old, Dane experienced his first symptoms of IBD, with blood in his stool and multiple uncontrollable bowel movements daily. He nearly died at 27 years old while taking many different traditional medicines. Determined to create a better life for himself, Dane made a deep commitment to himself not to be a victim of this disease and sought out natural healing modalities.
Dane is a leading practitioner in the holistic community with more than ten years of experience in the health and wellness industry. He received his Holistic Nutrition degree from the Energetic Health Institute and has since helped others find natural solutions to their battles with Crohn's/colitis. Dane has been featured in fitness magazines such as “Fitness for Men.”
Dane is the creator of the proprietary healing program S.H.I.E.L.D, a personalized, natural approach to reversing Crohn's and colitis. The co-founder of the non-profit Nutrition Heals foundation, the founder of CCLifestyle, and a member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, Dane is an established leader in the field. Throughout his battle with Crohn's/colitis, Dane always wished there was a place where he could connect with others who suffer and help build a healing plan, and he is now making that possible for others.
During our discussion, you'll discover:
-Dane Johnson's story…06:47
- CrohnsColitisLifestyle
- Used to act and model right after college
- Living the dream until he got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis
- He used to go to his gigs, with 10-15 bowel movements a day; blood, cramping, diarrhea
- Doctor said he’ll have ulcerative colitis and be on medications for the rest of his life
- 40 mg of Prednisone, tapering five milligrams a week, down to zero
- Asacol
- Remicade
- Raised in Virginia and no idea about natural medicine
- No disease in the family; just advised to take Tylenol, go and sleep it off
- Doctors didn’t pay much attention, parents did not have much knowledge
- The meds didn’t work, he even had drug-induced hepatitis
- UCLA diagnosed Dane with Crohn's disease, while Mayo Clinic said ulcerative colitis
- Doctors advised a part of his colon taken out and studied
- The pros and cons of having a colectomy
- Why opting not to eat instead is a bad idea
- Why intermittent fasting is another bad idea
- Lost a lot of weight, from 185 to 122 lbs
- Dane went from bad to severe to life-threatening
- In 2014, Dane went through a great deal of stress, started losing vision, night sweats and fevers which made it life-threatening, could hardly walk
- 6 weeks in the hospital
- On Delaudid, given to cancer patients to help relieve severe pain
- Experiencing hallucinations
-What Dane learned and what he decided he had to do…19:04
- A doctor said what he had was actually a virus, and he was given antiviral chemotherapy
- Snapped out of it and regained consciousness after 2 days; able to talk and move around
- Checked himself out of the hospital; housebound for a year
- Already lost thousands of dollars for treatments; years of failure
- He learned how to journal and watch his food intake
- Started learning how to celebrate the micro wins (20 bowel movements to 17)
- Got real results with natural medicine
- Fasted and tried various diets
- 400 bananas a day
- Bone broth only
- Carrot purees
- Read books and met Jordan Rubin
- Jordan Rubin's books
- Jini Patel's books
- The problem of restricted diet and caloric intake just resulted in more weight loss
- Without electrolytes and nutrients in the bloodstream, he was as good as dead
- He decided to be the CEO of his health; not the expert, not the master, but taking control and responsibility for his health
- The number one healing starts in the mind; you have to change your mind to say I want this, you're doing it because you need it, and that fear-based gasoline only goes so far
- Wanted to be the best version of himself; took power away from the doctor, away from the diagnosis
- CrohnsColitisLifestyle
-How long did it take for Dane to turn the corner?…30:10
- 3 to 4 years
- Went to Natural Medicine School
-What is the Natural Medicine school?…30:31
- Got board certification in Holistic Nutrition from EHI (Energetic Health Institute)
- A 2-year degree learning about mitochondria, gut health, meditation, and nutrition
- His professor introduced him to BCPH shake
- The shake is a binder made of bentonite clay and psyllium husk that helped his colon a lot
- Massive results in one year:
- Got rid of about 90 to 95% of his symptoms
- Went down to two to three bowel movements a day, no blood, no cramping, no urgency
- Gained weight to 175 pounds
- Drug-free in 7 months
- Colonoscopy showed 80% healed, scars gone
- Ulcers gone
- Inflammation basically gone after seven months
- The gut is the fastest-healing tissue in the body
-What Dane did to heal…36:07
- Only eats what he prepares
- Meditates on the food and checks how he is feeling
- He saw the common themes of why certain plant-based foods do not work for him; red meat hurts him because of the iron
- Started a food philosophy, how food works despite a blind diet
- Be aware of food; don't just do a diet because someone said it and wrote a book
- Look at the food and be aware of how it works and then listen to your body; journal on that because your body will tell you
- Some sufferers of Crohn's and colitis can only do vegan, others can only do meat
- Super Gut by Dr. William Davis
- Podcast with Dr. William Davis
- Food Marble digestive tracker (15% discount auto-applied)
-SIBO, offensive foods, and S.H.I.E.L.D…44:48
- Dane calls whole foods with fibers and sugar that illicit a severe reaction as “offensive foods”; a sign that the microbiome still needs to heal
- Dane now eats 70% plant, and for about five years only ate meat and vegetables
- The goal of the S.H.I.E.L.D program is to give you the ability to handle a poison without a severe reaction; sign of a healthy gut
- Dane's gallbladder and liver cleanse
- Be careful with how you use supplements; doing it in the wrong place can have a negative reaction
- Be careful with how you detox
- Just because some food does not work for you does not mean it's bad; your body is just not ready for it
- Liposomal PC (use code GREENFIELD10 to save 10%)
- Foul-smelling gas and bowel movements could be indigestion of fats
- Clients with mast cell histamine issues use Butyrate and PC to rebuild lipid fats around the cells to stop histamine reactions
- Working on the liver and gallbladder is good for digestion
- People with Crohn's and colitis:
- Their digestion is so poor
- Their pancreas is not operating correctly, and undigested proteins, fats, or even fibers are going into the colon, causing the spastic colon
- Some of the hardest foods to digest are beans and kale
- Food philosophy teaches about root cause
-What kind of tests do you like to use?…53:57
- A lot of root causes are not checked by conventional medicine
- Genetic stool tests can't check for viral load, mold, yeast, or candida because it takes too long to culture, so they don't check for mold
- Tests
- GI MAP test
- Organic Acid Test urine analysis
- Mold
- Neurotransmitters
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Oxalate issues which can tell me about more systemic issues
- Cytokine panel
- If TNF alpha is raised to give an idea if the biologics are working
- Cytokines tend to be linked to different types of autoimmune diseases
- Mold and mycotoxin test
- Heavy metal test
- Food allergy test
- ArminLabs Viral Load Panel
- Curcumin (use code BEN15 to save 15%)
- Butyrate
- NAC
- Glutathione
- Glycine
- Binders like BCPH or GI Detox
- Oregano
- Spend money on things that make sense; do not spend money on supplements or labs that do not make sense to you
- The S.H.I.E.L.D program makes you accountable to your plan; you need to understand what you are doing
- A lot of people with Crohn's or colitis may have other autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple sclerosis
- arminlabs
-Root cause of viruses and the ArminLabs Viral Load Panel…1:04:37
- ArminLabs
- Dr. Armin Schwarzbach
- Tests are only in Germany because of Covid restrictions
- Dr. Armin found root causes of chronic diseases that seem incurable
- Testing for IgA antibodies
- Built a specific Crohn's/colitis test that tests for 5 viruses and 2 bacteria
- ArminLabs Viral Load Panel
- 90 of 100 clients checked have all come back positive with active viruses (1,000 people with Crohn's/colitis)
- 60% symptom relief within 3 months is 90% or more
- Symptoms associated with these viruses
- Night sweats
- Fevers
- Cold sores
- Why patients should be careful in taking antibiotics; antibiotics destroy the microbiome, which controls the virus
-What is the S.H.I.E.L.D program?…1:10:44
- Build a foundational blueprint; you want to start with a proven system and then customize it
- Everything needs to be customized to you and your needs; get away from the generic
- We're very conscious of where the money is, we only want to spend on what makes sense
- Build your own personalized answer – you're going to have a coach and a partner, someone who has Crohn's and colitis themselves and is trained and sees 40 people a week
- Simplify your plan and make it consistent
- Cook 8 meals at once; cook to reduce inflammation and increase absorption
- Create belief; turn that faith into belief and trust
- Act on what you desire, not what you need
- Happiness, desire, and curiosity are way better fuel than sacrifice, fear, and need
- CrohnsColitisLifestyle
-And much more…
Upcoming Events:
- Wild Health Awake + Aware Principles: October 22nd, 2022 (Lexington, KY). Join me for a one-day intensive experience where I will guide you through a series of interactive lectures that explore purpose, meaning, and spiritual health. VIP guests will also join me on an immersive walk through nature and an intimate dinner. Learn more here.
- Keep up on Ben's LIVE appearances by following bengreenfieldfitness.com/calendar!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
– Dane Johnson:
– Podcasts And Articles:
- Everything You Need To Know About Healing Your Gut, Mood, Energy, Libido & Sleep With A Little Known Bacterial Strain (& An Amazing DIY Yogurt Recipe!) With Dr. William Davis, Author of Super Gut.
- Is A Ketogenic Diet Bad For Your Gut, Should You Eat Resistant Starch, How Exercise Changes Your Gut Bacteria & Much More With Lucy Mailing.
- Joel Greene Podcast Part 1: How To Reboot The Gut, Eat Cheesecake Without Gaining Weight, Amplify Any Fasting Protocol & Maximize Fat Loss.
- Joel Greene Podcast Part 2: How To Reshape Fat Cells, Enhance Repair During Sleep, Target Your “Circaseptan Rhythms,” Build Young Muscle & Get Rid Of Old Muscle.
- It All Starts With Your Gut: How Your Bacteria & Intestinal Inflammation Affect Your Mood, Health, Longevity & More!
- How To Beat Bloating & Customize Your Diet: An Overview Of Ben Greenfield’s Gut Results From Viome (& How To Know Which Foods Are Right For You).
- Kiss Gas & Bloating Goodbye With Dr. Matt Cook: The Complete Done-For-You Guide To Eliminating SIBO Once & For All (Along With Sex, Trauma, PTSD, Ozone Dialysis & More!).
- Dangerous Probiotic Myths, The Probiotic Ben Greenfield Uses, Anti-Aging Effects Of Probiotics, Should Males Vs. Females Take Different Probiotics & Much More.
- How To Get 6 Gigabytes Of Data From Your Gut: The Fascinating Future Of Stool, Blood, Saliva & Urine Testing (From The Comfort Of Your Own Home).
- Do Probiotics Really Work, The Carnivore Diet, How To Heal Bacterial Overgrowth, Is Fiber Necessary, Melatonin For A Leaky Gut & More!
- Poop, Bacteria & You: The Latest Cutting-Edge Science Of The Human Microbiome (& How To Affordably Test Your Own Gut).
- Age Reversing Via The Gut, The Ultimate Anti-Anxiety Pill, Customized Probiotics & More With Billionaire Entrepreneur & Viome Founder Naveen Jain
- The Gut Super-Special: Eating Camel Poop, Weird Constipation Causes, Pig Whipworms & More: How To Banish Bloat, Fix Your Microbiome & Reboot Your Gut.
- Constipation, Fecal Transplants, Fiber Myths, Resistant Starch, Probiotics & More With Konstantin Monastyrsky.
- 5 Common Myths Surrounding The Human Microbiome (Plus Proven Tips For Fostering A Healthy Colony Of Bacteria Within Your Gut)
– Books:
- Restoring Your Digestive Health
- The Maker's Diet
- Essential Fasting
- Listen To Your Gut
- Jini's Healing Guide
- Super Gut by Dr. William Davis
– Other Resources:
- Kettle And Fire Bone broth
- TUDCA
- NAC
- Glycine
- Liposomal PC (use code GREENFIELD10 to save 10%)
- Curcumin (use code BEN15 to save 15%)
- Butyrate
- NAC
- Glutathione
- BCPH
- GI Detox
- Oregano
- Heavy metal test
- Food allergy test
- ArminLabs
- Food Marble (15% discount auto applied)
- Energetic Health Institute
Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Dane Johnson or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will reply!
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